Early Saturday Morning

It is early on Saturday morning and I have already been up a couple of hours reading. Taylor has an out of town basketball game and had to be at the school by 6:00 a.m. It is misting rain outside with cool temperatures. The forecast calls for more rain throughout the day and heavier rains later tonight.

On this Saturday morning, while the rest of the family sleeps, I sit here at my little desk contemplating the biography I finished reading yesterday on the life of Deitrich Bonhoeffer. He died in a Nazi concentration camp. Bonhoeffer served as a pastor, theologian, author, and ended up getting executed for helping conspire to rid Germany of the evil tyrant Adolf Hitler.

In the last days of his life the only information we have comes from a fellow prisoner observing Bonhoeffer. He lived well. He suffered well. He also died well. One person who saw him executed said he never saw anyone die so surrendered to the will of God. For the better part of the last two years of his life he was imprisoned. Though engaged, he never did get to marry and died at thirty-nine. He spent his last two years reading, studying, and writing when he could. He felt he had much to learn and much to write and did not waste his prison years much like the apostle Paul or John Bunyan.

He endured his trials with a joy foreign to many of us coping with lesser troubles than life in prison. He won over the prison cards and ministered to fellow prisoners even up to his last hour. He served his Lord in some deplorable conditions spiritually and physically. They say perspective is everything. On this early December Saturday morning my perspective is reoriented.

I realize how good I have it. I have this desk and computer to write. Bonhoeffer wrote mostly by hand. I have this warm room to collect my thoughts and a warm cozy beg to rest in. Bonhoeffer in the end lived in cramped quarters with other prisoners often existed on a diet of bread and water. I have access to my library of books just a few steps away. He did not have access to all the books he would have liked during his prison years. I have a wife down the hall sleeping soundly who loves, serves, encourages and supports me. He spent his engagement years behind prison bars and communicated by letters. He never did know the bliss of holy matrimony though he and his Maria planned their lives together when he would be released from prison. I have four sons who love and admire me.

Perspective is everything. Here I sit and feel shamed for the times my attitude gets the best of me. Often I think of the life we gave up to pursue starting this church. We have not made a sacrifice. Though it is misty outside I am perfectly dry. Our pantry is stocked with good food and our freezer is full of beef. I have several hundred of my books readily available to read not ten steps from where I am sitting and several thousand more in boxes out in the garage. In four months I have seen God take a dream of a new church and begin making that dream come true adding dozens of people.

We haven’t suffered or sacrificed. I live a life of comfort and ease. I am in no danger of being arrested and our church has no fear of the threat of persecution this early morning. I have two paid for vehicles sitting in the driveway. I have a closet full of clothing, coats to keep me warm in the winter, and several pair of shoes to keep my feet warm and dry on this wintry cold morning.

My life is blessed. It is easy to become so focused on the challenges in life that I miss the blessings right beneath my nose. I have not sacrificed. I have not known suffering. My trials are miniscule. My burdens are light.

On this Saturday morning I am grateful for an attitude correction. I am grateful for God’s gentle reminder that I am blessed beyond measure. This all came crashing home when I drove Taylor to school this morning to catch the bus for his game. Leaving the parking lot it suddenly hit me how blessed I am.

I am blessed to serve a church where we are loved and supported. I am blessed to have sufficient provision to allow us to live a life of comfort. I am blessed to get to expend my days preaching, shepherding, and writing which are all the great passions of my soul. I am blessed to live in the community of Paradise. I am blessed to raise my family in a small town. No, I have not suffered or made a sacrifice.

Joyfully do I recommit myself to the task of starting Faith Community Church as well as writing blogs and books. From this little desk I trust God will birth messages that will transform lives. From this desk I trust God will birth books at an alarming rate. I have no complaints and no worries.

My family has made no sacrifices in our serving Christ. We are blessed beyond measure. So on this early Saturday morning I am drawn again to the scriptures and find strength and comfort in [James 1:2-4] “Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.”